Shed-forming mechanism for looms



(No Model.)

J. RAILTON & G 0. DRAPER. SHED FORMINGMEGHANISM FOR LO'OMS.

No 575,309. v Patented Jan. 12,1897.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES RAILTON, OF NEW BEDFORD, AND GEORGE O. DRAPER, OF HOPE- DALE,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO GEORGE DRAPER & SONS, OF

HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHED-FORMING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 575,309, dated January12, 1897.

Application filed September 2,1896. Serial No. 604,597. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JAMEs RAILTON, a

subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at New Bedford, countyof Bristol, and

GEORGE O. DRAPER, of Hopedale, county of Worcester, State ofMassachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Shed- Forming Mechanismfor Looms, of which the following description, in connection with theaccompa- IO nying drawings, is a specification, like letters on thedrawings representing like parts.

In fancy weaving figures more or less elabcrate are produced by using agreater or less number of harness-frames which are lifted when thewarp-threads which those frames control are to appear at the face of thefabric.

Other more elaborate fancy weaves are offected by the usual jacquardwhere each warpthread is controlled by its own individual harness-cord.

In this our invention we employ harnessbars connected to or carried bysuitable frames, which are raised and lowered in any usual order ormanner, and these bars or frames have each a series of metallic heddles,composed, preferably, of sheet-steel strips, each heddle having combinedwith it a locking device which will or will not connect it to and so asto be raised by the bar as it is lifted, such heddles in any one barwhich are locked to and lifted by the bar putting their threads in theupper plane of the shed, while the heddles which are not so connected totheir rising bars are left down and their warp-threads are not liftedinto the upper plane of the shed.

In our invention the looking devices, one

loosely, said locking devices engaging and releasing said heddles atintervals to lift them, according to the requirements of the pattern tobe produced in the fabric being woven.

Other features of invention will be hereinafter described and madesubject of claims.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows a sufficient portion of a loom with ourimprovements added to enable our invention to be understood; Fig. 2, apartial rear side elevation of the device shown 'in Fig. '1; Fig. 3, anenlarged detail below the dotted line m, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an end view,chiefly to show one of the bars, the shaft carrying the locking devices, and one way of rotating said shaft.

Each heddle-bar A is shown as connected by suitable screws a to one of aseries of like frames a a a a and each of said frames maybe raised andlowered in weaving in any usual or predetermined order and by any usualdevices, not necessary to be herein shown because not of the gist of ourinvention. The loom-frame B may also be of any usual shape, it havingarranged acrossit between its sides suitable parallel bars b b,whichserve as guides, in which may slide up and down the metallic heddles 0,each heddle having at one edge 7 5 a suitable notch, projection,orshoulder, as c, and a warp-eye c Attached to the loom side are hangersd, which sustain a supporting plate or rest 01, on which may drop thoseheddles which are not to be lifted to place the warp-threads carried bythem into the upper plane of the shed, provided the threads in theireyes should break.

The bars A will for the best results be composed of metal, so shaped asto furnish bearings for the shaft 6, on which will be splined atsuitable distances apart a series of locking devices 6, they preferablybeing separated by a series of collars or washers e The rear side ofeach bar is provided with 0 a series of projecting fingers e and in thespaces between said fingers we place the heddles c, composed of stripsof sheet metal, the notched edges of the heddles lying next the lockingdevices.

The warp-threads w in the eyes of the hedw-down for four sheds.

dles, in case a heddle is not raised, will lie on the top of theguide-bars b, and the heddles so supported will present their notches call in a line.

In practice all the bars A will be lowered to the same line after eachweft-crossing, and all the heddles will be lowered into such positionthat their notches 0 will all stand in the same line.

The locking devices consist, as shown, of a series of wheels or diskshaving a greater or less number of teeth.

In our invention, as herein illustrated, we have fixed on the end of theshaft e a ratchetwheel f, having six teeth, and said shaft has looselymounted on it a pawl-carrier f, having a pawl f to engage the teeth ofthe said ratchet, and at each descent of a bar the tail of apawl-carrier meets a pin or projection f fixed to the frame, whichcauses the pawlcarrier to be moved and turn the shaft for one-sixth of arotation.

WVe have accordingly so arranged the teeth on the locking device thatone-sixth of a r0- tation of the shaft e will either put a tooth of thelocking device into the notch c of a heddle or will take a tooth outfrom said notch.

hen the locking device has three equallyspaced teeth, the said teethwill enter and engage a notch c at every other rotation of the shaft 6,and when the bar is lifted with a tooth in a notch of the heddle saidheddle will be raised with the bar; but if a bar is raised aftera toothhas left a notch c, leaving an untoothed part or space of the lockingdevice opposite the notch c, then that heddle will not be lifted withthe bar. So it will be understood that with a three-toothed lockingdevice, (shown at the left in Fig. 1,) the shaft 6 being rotatedone-sixth of a rotation before it is lifted, aheddle will be lifted toplace the warp carried by it into the upper plane of the shed at everyother rising of the bar.

If the locking device has two teeth, one close to the other, as shown inthe second locking device from the left in Fig. 1, the heddle will beraised twice in succession and will be left The third locking devicefrom the left has three teeth close together and a fourth tooth with aspace at each side, and this will lift the heddle at one shed, leave itdown for the next shed, and then lift it for three sheds in succession,and then leave it down for one shed, while the fourth looking devicefrom the left in Fig. 1, it having five teeth and one space, will liftthe heddle five times in succession and then leave it down once.

The third locking device from the left, Fig. 1, shows a space next theedge of the heddle, and the heddle was consequently not lifted.

It will thus be seen that by arranging the teeth and spaces on thelocking devices in the proper order with relation to its distance ofrotation it may be made to lift a heddle any desired number of times insuccession, or lift and then leave it down in any desired order; and byarranging these differently-toothed locking devices side by side on thesame shaft it is possible to raise or leave down any desired heddle ineach bar, and'in this way by merely changing the locking devices on theshafts many different and complicated patterns may be woven.

This invention is not limited to the employment of a shaft rotated ateach step for sixty degrees, as the distance which the shaft 6 may bemoved and the number of teeth and spaces on each locking device and theorder of their arrangement may be varied at will and yet be within thescope of the invention, nor is the invention limited to the exact shapeshown for the notch, shoulder, or projection at the edge of the heddle.

A detent m holds the ratchet-wheel f against accidental rotation.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a shedding mechanism for looms, the following instrumentalities,viz: a reciprocable heddle-bar, a shaft carried thereby and providedwith a series of locking devices, a series of metallic heddles adaptedto slide transversely in said bars, and means to rotate said shaft stepby step, said locking devices in one position or step of the shaftacting to lift some of said heddles with said bars, and at anotherposition or step of said shaft acting to leave down said heddles whenthe bars are raised, substantially as described.

2. In a shedding mechanism for looms, the following instrumentalities,viz: a series of reciprocable heddle bars, shafts mounted thereon, andprovided with toothed locking devices, means to rotate said shaftsintermittingly, aseries of metallic heddles having warp-eyes and notchesor projections, and guides for said heddles, to operate substantially asdescribed.

3. In a shedding mechanism for looms, the following instrumentalities,viz: a series of reciprocable heddle-bars, shafts mounted thereon, andprovided with toothed locking devices, the teeth of each series of saidlooking devices varying in number and location, means to rotate saidshafts intermittingly, a series of metallic heddles having warp-eyes andnotches or projections, and guides for said heddles, to operatesubstantially as described.

4. A series of reciprocable heddle-bars, shafts mounted on said bars andprovided with toothed lockin g devices, means to rotate said shaftsintermittingly at each descent of said bars, a series of notchedheddles, and guides for said heddles, combined with a rest located belowthe ends of said heddles to sup port the same in case the Warp-threadsin their eyes break, substantially as described.

5. In a 100110 the followin instrumentalities viz: a series of nietalliheddles having 5 Warp-eyes to contain Warp-threads, means to engage andlift any desired number of hednames to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

\Vitnesses as to James Railton:

lower ends of those heddles of each set which are not engaged andlifted, substantially as 10 described.

In testimony whereof We have signed our DANIEL I-I. HOWLAND. Witnessesas to George 0. Draper:

EARLE E. HOWARD,

D. BANOROFT.

% dies in each set, and a rest to support the GEORGE S. MOTHOM,

